Let's talk about how the choices we make affect our entire lives. Let's pretend we have all died, and are standing at the Final Judgment Bar. More than guess what it would be like, let's read the words of someone who saw in a vision what actually will happen. Rev. 20: 12 John the Revelator recorded:

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written according to their works."

So, what are these books? Church records, or records kept on earth by secretaries and clerks about our various callings, roll books, Visiting and Home Teaching, tithing payments, etc.

Scriptures...Moroni 10:27, And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord god will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, even as one speaking out of the dust?"

The Book of Life..Joseph Smith said this is a record kept in heaven of the names of the faithful and an account of their good deeds.

Apostle Paul said that a man himself is the most complete record of himself. In Matthew, Jesus Christ said that every idle word that they shall speak, they shall give an account of in the day of Judgment. Alma said our thoughts will also condemn us. So what are we putting into our minds? What kind of music, TV, literature, friends and places do we expose out minds to.? Music is powerfully recorded in our minds. Chelsea and I were riding along when a song came on the radio I had not heard in about 40 years. I was able to instantly sing nearly every word. I said, "Chelsea, I haven't heard that song since I was a little girl". To which she naughtily said, "I didn't know songs were even invented back then!"

We as parents have a great responsibility to teach our children about making proper choices about what sort of things they will be exposed to, and how we need to protect them from evil. We are guardians who need to know where our children are; whom they are with; and keep a curfew. Laron will go out to check if our kids miss a curfew and haven't notified us. He will check to see they haven't gone off into the canal near us, or maybe in a wreck at the bridge.

We need to encourage proper dress. More than ever, we nor our children should dress immodestly. The Lord dressed Adam and Eve, and has always had clothing standards for His chosen people. The temple garment helps remind us of this. Mosiah said, "Ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry or naked, neither transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel with another and serve the devil."

Children, you have a responsibility to be obedient to your parents. It is a commandment. If they were married in a temple, they knelt at a holy alter and made covenants to God, concerning you. Please help them keep these sacred promises by supporting and obeying what they ask. Boys and girls, are you trying to obey your parents, or are you making it hard for them to be goodly parents? Are you being kind to them? Are you being kind to your teaches in Primary, Sunday School, or MIA by being reverent? Sadly, some teachers have been driven out by students' bad behavior. How would you want kids to treat your mom or dad, if they were trying to give a lesson to your class?

The Church has set the age of sixteen for teenage children to begin to date, though there many who don't start then. They could have set the age at 17 or 18. Sister Ardeth Kapp, YW General President said, " Dating has nothing to do with number16. It has everything to do with obedience"

The way we handle these choices is how we will be judged. We cannot make good choices, if we don't know true principles. One of my favorite sayings is: You say you know the gospel is true, but do you know the gospel? Each of us has the choice to learn the gospel and to teach it to each other. As we stand at the judgment bar, those of us who are members of the church will be held even more accountable than others. 2nd Nephi 9:27 "But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!" Also in Luke, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required."

This beautiful building, and this room were built at great expense with one purpose in mind, to teach the truth to those of us who come here. We need to work hard to prepare lessons, if we are teachers, and students are to be prepared to listen and support the teacher. At our Sunday dinners, we, like most of you ask our children, "What did you learn in your class today?" Sadly, now and then we hear, "We really didn't have a lesson. The teacher didn't show up, or he or she just talked about stuff."

Without knowing true principles, we cannot choose wisely, and we must understand that we ourselves choose the eternal reward which we will receive. As soon as we die, we will have a partial judgment as we enter the spirit world. The thief on the cross said, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." To which the King James version of the Bible reports that Jesus said, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise." This causes confusion, but the seph Smith Translation corrected this and said that the King James version of the Bible used the incorrect word "paradise" when it should have read, "Today thou shalt be with me in the world of Spirits."

There the righteous will enter a state of peace and rest where they expand in wisdom where care and sorrow do not annoy, and the wicked go to a place of darkness where they are taught the gospel. Not only the wicked, but those vast majority of God's children who did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel on earth. There, these spirits can repent and have their sins washed away by their baptisms being performed in temples by the living.

But we who know the gospel have no excuse. Alma 34:32-35...For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meed God, yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." it goes on to tell us that if we do procrastinate the day of our repentance unto the end, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed. , and we can't say when we come to that crisis that we will repent, because that same spirit which we possess on earth of procrastination, will be with us in the next life, if we have not taken advantage of the gospel on earth. Joseph F. Smith said that a spirit enters the Spirit World as an adult, no matter the age of the individual at death.

We are so blessed to have his description of the spirit world in D&C 138, when he received the marvelous vision he has shared with us.

D&C 45: "And again I say, hearken unto my voice, lest death overtake you, in any hour when ye think not, the summer shall be past, and the harvest is ended and your souls are not saved."

This knowledge which we have been given of the importance for us to be prepared to make correct choices for which we will be accountable, is very sobering, and perhaps even difficult to hear, but what blessings that come to us by our seeking knowledge, and being obedient to covenants we make.

I recognize that my most serious fault is that of procrastination. I sort of go through each day thinking, "Never put off today, what can be easily put off until another day. Maybe many of us are like that, and need to be reminded of the problems that come with that fault.